Category Archives: Madagascar

Catharanthus roseus – Madagascar Periwinkle The plant has been called a miracle in the prevention of childhood leukemia and cancer treatment. To protect Madagascar periwinkle is to protect the future of your children in the opinion of many. It has … Continue reading →

Commonly known as the scaly tree ferns, Cyatheaceae are a clade of ca. 600 plant species within a group of plants known as the monilophytes or ferns (Smith et al. 2006). All ferns are spore-bearing and share a highly distinctive … Continue reading →

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“The pitchers of Nepenthes possesses extraordinary power of digestion” … “The fact that a plant should secrete, when properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferment, closely analogous to the digestive fluid of an animal, was certainly a remarkable … Continue reading →

Cyperus papyrus is a tall and graceful plant. It looks stunning in the Tropical Greenhouse with a tropical blue sky behind it, which, even in October, Reading obligingly provided, to prove the point. It’s up to 5m tall, with almost globular … Continue reading →

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The one thing that most people know about this plant is that it was the source of paper for ancient Egyptians. They started to use it for writing on circa 5000 years ago, and carried on up until the 8th or … Continue reading →

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The King Fern or Giant Elephant fern is a native of the palaeotropics famous for the large size of the individual fronds it produces. Over much of the natural range the species is sporadic but not rare but in tropical … Continue reading →